The New York Times ran a great article today about Walking the Walk, a high school program that brings together students of different faiths to help them learn about each other.

Check out the article about Walking the Walk here.

Stay tuned to ReligionTranscends for coverage of Guru Nanak’s birthday (a Sikh celebration).

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Did you see the video of the monks fighting?

This past weekend, fighting broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site tradition calls the place of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. The monks who were fighting were Greek Orthodox and Armenian.

According to BBC News, Armenians were preparing to celebrate the Feast of the Cross, an annual remembrance of an event in the 4^th century when Armenians believe the cross used to crucify Christ was uncovered. Greeks feared that if the Armenians used the space, the Greeks would no longer be able to lay claim to the site of Jesus’s tomb, according to the Associated Press.

They stood their ground. Armenians protested. Greeks said they had a right to go where they pleased in the church. Punches were thrown. Fighting ensued. Monks pulled down decorations around the church. And eventually two people were arrested.

In the end, it came down to a fight over space. Welcome to Jerusalem.

Watch the whole video here.

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America has elected an African-American president.

Will cardinals elect an African-American pope next?

Archbishop Wilton Daniel Gregory of Atlanta told the UK Times that the current pope has suggested electing a black pope would send the world a “splendid signal.”

Gregory is originally from Chicago (like Obama) and became the first black man to oversee the U.S. Bishops Conference in 2001.

Rumor had it that, after the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, the cardinals would elect a new pope from Africa. Instead, they elected Ratzinger, the German-born cardinal who became Pope Benedict XVI.

When Benedict passes on, will the conclave choose a black man to replace him? Gregory thinks it could happen, since the conclave picks the person who is best for the job and does not base its decision on race.

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Light and darkness. Saints and witches. Goodies and goblins.

It’s safe to say this time of year is full of both the honorable and the horrifying. As Chalicecentre.net puts it, “Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry of celebrations from October 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.” 

As we round out the month of October, perhaps you’re finishing up a Diwali celebration, visiting family members’ graves for Day of the Dead, or dressing up for Halloween. There’s a lot going on! Yet more conflicting holidays are on the way.

All Saints’ Day

When is it celebrated? Christians will celebrate this holiday on November 1. A holy day of obligation, Catholics are required to attend Mass tomorrow.

Who is being celebrated? All Christian saints and martyrs. Some saints are celebrated on specific days throughout the year. But on this day, saints and martyrs are celebrated collectively.

What are saints? Saints are deceased individuals who are honored for the good lives they led and the miracles associated with them. Catholics may ask the saints to pray with them or for them, as they are closer to God and may pray for those in need.

Want a history of the celebration? Visit Newadvent.org.

All Souls’ Day

When is it celebrated? Christians will celebrate this holiday on November 2.

Who is being honored? All the dead. Christians may pray for them, visit their graves, or simply reflect on the lives and deaths of loved ones. Often they pray for the souls of loved ones who may be in Purgatory.

What is Purgatory? Catholics believe Purgatory is the place where souls go if they are not being damned to Hell for grave sins but are not yet ready for Heaven because they have not yet paid for minor sins. In Purgatory, souls must be cleansed of sins in order to eventually move to Heaven. When loved ones pray for or hold Mass in honor of those souls, it is believed it helps them move to Heaven.

Want a history of the celebration? Visit Newadvent.org.

Samhain

When is it celebrated?  Wiccans/Pagans will celebrate this holiday on November 2. Samhain is one of the four main festivals of the Celtic tradition. (Another is Beltane, similar to Samhain except that it marks the beginning of Spring.)

What is being celebrated? Beginning with the Celts/Druids, pagans celebrate the end of summer on Samhain. This is their new year, as it marks both the end of harvest and the beginning of a new season. During this time, Wiccans pay respects to the dead. Others use this time to make supplications of the dead and practice divination.

What is divination? Divination involves connecting with the spirit world. At certain times of the year like Samhain, it is thought that divination is easier than at other times. Divination can involve invoking spirits, asking questions of the dead, interpreting dreams, and necromacy (or magic related to death).

Want a history of the celebration? Visit Chalicecentre.net.

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You might remember when a man by the name of Mehmet Ali Agca shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981. The assassination attempt led to the addition of bullet-proof glass around the Popemobile.

But did you know the pope was stabbed just a year later by a priest?

Following the assassination attempt, the former pope visited Portugal to thank God for letting him live. While there, Juan Maria Fernandez Krohn, a priest, stabbed the pope, angry about the pope’s reforms. At least that’s the story Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz tells in his new documentary, Testimony. The cardinal showed the film at the Vatican recently, revealing the secret stabbing to the world.

The pope was not seriously injured, and the Vatican kept the incident under wraps. 

Learn more about the cardinal’s film here.

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Last Sunday, over 25 pastors spoke about politics from the pulpit — and some of them even endorsed a presidential candidate.

As you may know, this goes against the tax code which restricts such speech by houses of worship. 

According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 66% of the public opposes houses of worship endorsing candidates (based on a survey they took in August 2008).

What do you think? Should priests, rabbis, and other religious leaders be allowed speak out about their political beliefs during their sermons? Is it ever ok in a house of worship? Should the tax code be changed?

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In case you missed it, Hindus and Christians are violently fighting in east India. It all goes back to Christians converting Hindus and non-religious tribes…and the Hindus saying it’s not ok. For a review of how it all started and the murder of Swami Saraswati that made everything worse, check out this post.

Now, journalist Francois Gautier is upset at the one-sided coverage and is standing up for the Hindu side of the story. Here is an excerpt from his recent article in ExpressBuzz:

I am also aghast at the one-sided coverage by the Indian media of the Christian- Hindu problem: blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus in Varanasi, Delhi, Mumbai train blasts, Jaipur, etc. Yet, neither Manmohan Singh nor Sonia Gandhi have pronounced once the word ‘Islamic terrorism.’ But when furious Hindus, tired of being made fun of, of witnessing their brothers and sisters converted by financials traps, of seeing a 84-year-old swami and his Mataji brutally murdered, of reading blasphemy about their Gods, vent their anger against churches, many of them makeshifts, the Indian government goes after the soft target which the Hindus are. The same thing applies to the United States: they never warned Muslim organisations in India about the killing of Hindus, but when dollars are used to buy new converts and it angers the majority community of India, Washington has the arrogance to issue a warning, and Manmohan Singh does not have the pride to tell the US to mind its own business. 

Neither the Indian press nor the western correspondents bothered to write about what made Hindus angry in Karnataka: Newlife, one important westernfunded missionary centre ( http://www.newlifevoice.org), began making conversions in and around Mangalore by accosting poor people in market areas, or in bus stands, befriending them and then taking them to churches to introduce them to the father. 

Upon introduction they were paid Rs 2,500 per person and then taken to the Velankanni shrine, in Tamil Nadu, where they would get another Rs. 3,000. 

When they finally converted to Christianity by changing the name, they got an incentive of Rs 10,000 onwards. 

Newlife would then give them instructions to abandon wearing tilak on forehead, not to visit and offer prayers at the Hindu temples, replacing the photos and idols of Hindu gods and goddesses with a Cross, etc.

For the full article, visit ExpressBuzz.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Are the Christians in India wrong for their conversions? Are the Hindus wrong for their retaliation? Is it so black and white?

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This. Is. Fascinating.

In this video, a Christian church in Indonesia is providing meals for Muslims observing Ramadan. 

Watch and decide: Real bridge building? Thoughtful? Corny? Wrong? Unnecessary? 

Learn more about Ramadan in this post on Religion Transcends.

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Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate, has made no secret of her religious background. She grew up with and has maintained an affiliation with the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal Christian denomination.

Want to know more about the Assemblies of God?

Check out this article on the Pew Forum, which contains demographics, beliefs, and so forth.

Or try this article from Christianity Today (fewer charts, more narrative style).

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If you’ve missed the news in the past year about the violence between Christians and Hindus in India, ReligionTranscends will bring you up to speed.

Last year, violence escalated in Orissa, a state in east India, between Christians and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). The VHP is an organization that believes India is a Hindu Nation – always has been, always will be. Its leader was Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.

Saraswati was upset about Christians who were constantly trying to convert the poor and tribe members. The swami made efforts to bring those people back into Hinduism. And the two sides have been fighting about conversion ever since.

The death of Saraswati

Then this year on August 23, the swami was murdered along with four others at the swami’s ashram.

Some government officials claimed it was an act of the Communist Party of India (CPI, or Maoists). But when Hindu groups began blaming the Christians, the government kept mum. This has led some Hindu groups to believe the government is blaming Maoists to cover for the Christians.

The aftermath

As a result of all the finger pointing, violence has continued to escalate, particularly against Christians. VHPs are retaliating against what they view as an attack on their leader.

Schools have closed across India to protest the violence. Around 20 Christians are dead; 4,000 are homeless; and thousands are reporting rapes, murders, and arsons.

The Prime Minister has sought to intervene, sending in units of the Central Reserve Police Force. But the violence continues.

Check out this news video from Reuters:

Want more?

Read Wikipedia’s bio of the swami.

Check out an interesting article from the VHP point of view.

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